Saturday, March 2, 2013

Deacon Barbara Duff and Rev. Diane Dougherty celebrated a liturgy on Feb. 28, 2013-Justice Rising, at First Metropolitan Community Church in Atlanta. On the day the Pope retired, we sang The Canticle of Turning, praying that in the amazing age in which we live, the momentum toward a renewed priesthood and gender equality in our Catholic tradition would be realized. Pictures by Helen Turley www.arcwp.org

Gender justiceBy Roy Bourgeois"The Catholic Church teaches that the call to be a priest comes from God. It also says that only men can be priests. The question I've been asking my fellow Catholics — and would ask the next pope — is this: How can a woman's call to priesthood — which is directly from God — be wrong? In failing to ordain women, the church is guilty of sexism, which is impossible to justify in a faith that preaches that a loving God creates everyone of equal worth. Historically the church's leaders, looking to keep themselves — all men — in power, have said that while all people are created equal, women's roles are separate. This argument for barring women priests reminds me of my childhood in Louisiana. I attended segregated schools and worshiped in a Catholic Church that reserved the last five pews for blacks. In my anger at the injustice being done to women, I am still filled with hope that women will be ordained, just as those segregated schools in Louisiana are now integrated."Roy Bourgeois was a Catholic priest with the Maryknoll Order for 40 years. He was dismissed from the priesthood in late 2012 after he refused to renounce his participation in an ordination ceremony for a female priest.

Today Benedict XVI concludes his pontificate. On this occasion, "We Are
Church" wrote their own document.

It emphasizes the ecclesial and theological meaning of the renunciation and it
is noted that all the problems of the Church, inherited from John Paul II,
remained unresolved. The current difficulties of the Church are the lack of
real reform, which is a consequence of the secretive and ambiguous acceptance
of Vatican II by those who guide the Church in Rome. The Eurocentric Benedict
XVI and his lack of geopolitic sensitivity have worsened the situation. The
document lists other personal decisions of Pope Ratzinger, who are considered
as liabilities in the pontificate, not effectively redeemed by his passionate
reflection on God and the Gospel of Jesus

Collegiality in the management of the Church has remained a dead letter. At
this time a new Synod structure is needed in Rome, with deliberative tasks and
that is a true expression of the whole people of God

Rome, February 28, 2013

The problematic papacy of Benedict XVI. The
reflections of "Noi Siamo Chiesa"

Rome, 28th february 2013

On the 28th
of February Benedict XVI ended his
ministry as Bishop of Rome. The movement "Noi Siamo Chiesa" fully
participate in this event, almost unprecedented in the history of Christianity,
and underlines that it appreciates the ecclesial, theological and historical
meaning of this decision and the personal boldness of the pope. It a step for
the good of the Church, certainly frowned upon by a part of the establishment
clergy, amazed by the evident “desacralization” of the papacy that it implies.

Our movement expresses
concerns about the decision of the pope emeritus to establish his residence in
the Vatican City - and not in a distant monastery; something that could
influence his successor, beyond his declared intention to the contrary, making
it more difficult for the new Pope to make choices that may contradict previous
decisions.

Above all, "Noi
Siamo Chiesa" cannot fail to point out that all the serious and urgent
problems that Ratzinger had inherited from John Paul II remain unsolved, and,
indeed, are exacerbated by the rapid changes taking place in the Church and in
the world .

Of course, we know
that only a certain historical detachment will allow a balanced judgment.
Meanwhile, expressing a provisional assessment, we see more shadows than lights. The
main issues facing the Church, and
especially its leadership, depend on the fact that Pope Ratzinger missed to
reform its structures and its pastoral approach: this was consequence of accepting
only ambiguously and partially the Second Vatican Council. Benedict XVI has
specific responsibilities for these delays, as we pointed out many times, trying
to be active members of our Church, in all our limits.

The Eurocentric point
of view, the insistence on "relativism" and on the relationship
between faith and reason, have all proved inadequate or misleading. In our opinion the Pope teaching should aim to
be a general guidance for the people of God and for the different cultures it
express around the world. Even his three encyclicals suffer from this orientation
of his teaching, although they contain important meditations and exhortations
on the ultimate questions of life and faith. His striking rapprochement with
the USA, in the days of George Bush, and the lack of commitment against those
wars that John Paul II condemned with strong and not ambiguous words, are the expression of a lack of
geopolitical sensitivity, that is dangerous for the Church, as it is centered on
Western and European values and interests.

Under the pontificate
of Benedict XVI ecumenism has stalled, as shown by his choice to call
"ecclesial communities" the Churches of the Reformation and by the
missed opportunities of dialogue with
Orthodoxy. The same can be said of interreligious dialogue, although it must be
acknowledge that he went to Assisi to repeat the great encounter of religions
in 1986.

In his visit to
Auschwitz it was a serious mistake to define Nazism in Germany as due to a
simple "band of criminals." He made errors in the choice of the
people (in particular Cardinal Bertone), and this summed up to hisinability, or lack of real desire, for reforming
the Curia. This resulted in the well-known scandals and a further boost to its
elephantiasis was the establishment of the useless Council for New
Evangelization.

Other decisions were
direct expression of his personal conservative approach, such as the opening to
the Lefebvrists and the resumption of the Latin liturgy of the Mass of St. Pius
V. These decisions led to negative outcomes, despite all his efforts. The
incident in Regensburg and its consequence on the relationships with Islam, and
that of the Good Friday prayer on the "enlightenment" needed by the
Jews, were recovered laboriously.

All matters relating
to ecclesial ministries and to sexuality, which are increasingly of the agenda
in the Church at all levels, were banned from discussion. Punitive interventions
on theologians considered to be unorthodox, andnot only on those supportingthe
theology of liberation, limited theologians’ contributions to the necessary
reform of the Church.

The scandal of
pedophilia in the clergy exploded because of outside accusations rather than
from the recognition of the errors committed by the church hierarchy, which
protected culprits as long as it could. Benedict XVI sent a few messages and
signals in the right direction, but too many things are still "covered". The Church still lacks
an authentic, clear and general penitential rite about these sins. It is
surprising that Benedict XVI did not react against the Guidelines to combat
pedophilia in the clergy issued the Italian Bishops Conference, which do not
include the duty of the bishops to refer the matter to the civil authorities.

Of course, the evaluation
of Benedict XVI pontificate is a complex thing. It seems to us that Joseph
Ratzinger, in spite of his limitations in the management of the Church, spoke
in a convincing way of God, of his primacy, of the relativity of everything in
front of the ineffable Mystery, in many of his speeches. In Caritas in Veritate (par. 78), to take
one example among many, he wrote that "God's
love calls us to move beyond our limitations, and gives us the courage to act
and to continue to search the good for all. " But, it seems to us that
those who affirm the primacy of God are expected to have the courage of not embracing worldly values, but rather poverty,
justice, and questioning of power.

With regard to the
opening to some form of collegiality, or even co-responsibility, Pope
Ratzinger, was, if ever possible, worse than his predecessors. Under the
pressure of a Curia oppressed and divided under the iron fist of Bertone, the
Pope appointed bishops in a way that was essentially autocratic, denying space
to the plurality of positions that exist in the Catholic world. In a similar
way, the Synod of the Bishops, during his pontificate, were only moments of
mutual understanding and discussion among the bishops, but continued to have no
function, and nopower in the management of the Church: the role of the Roman papacy and of the Roman
Curia has been further consolidated.

In this scenario, the
choice of Benedict XVI to resign was, we believe, the most innovative act of
his pontificate. An act of desacralization
of the ministry of Peter, and not of the man Joseph Ratzinger, as was suggested
by the Curia and by the traditionalists, and how it seems to emerge even from
the very words of the Pope. Being an act of freedom, there may be a
heterogenesis of purpose, and his resignation could unleash – we hope - a
demanding journey of renewal for our Church.

Therefore, we think -
and we emphasize – that the Conclave should consider paramount to think of a new
Church organization, giving to the Synod of bishops deliberative powers, and abandoning
the current sterile Synod established by Pope Paul VI. It should open the
debate on all the major open issues, decentralize functions and powers to local
churches, clean up the central apparatus o and reduce its size. A structure of
this type should be primarily an expression of the people of God, including men
and women from outside the clerical system, and will really be able to give
credibility to the Gospel message. The way forward is to build on what was
expressed in his last interview by Cardinal Martini.

http://www.thesudburystar.com/2013/03/01/search-for-younger-and-more-progressive-pope..."Sudbury's Marie Evans Bouclin would disagree. Bouclin was ordained a bishop in the dissident Roman Catholic Womenpriests. The organization, which has male and female members, says its priests and bishops are valid because the consecrating bishops who ordained the first women are bishops with apostolic succession within the Roman Catholic Church.Bouclin isn't harbouring a great deal of hope a more progressive pontiff will be elected, simply because all of the people that are going to be electing the next pope are basically of one stripe, they're of one political persuasion.Bouclin said her hope -- and prayer -- is "these men are going to listen to the people who have taken the time to write to them and say: 'Look, here are the real needs of the church.' "Reformed-minded people are calling for what German theologian Hans Kung calls "less pope, more Jesus."The conclave who will select a pope will not be presentative of half the world's more than one billion Catholics who are women.Bouclin points out Pope Benedict lumped women who dared to become priests in with pedophiles, "only we were more serious. We were committing a graver sin. I mean, we had to be if we were being ex-communicated," because not one pedophile priest has been excommunicated."We keep saying this, but I don't think people care."Some church leaders, such as Bishop Jean-Louis Plouffe, of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Sault Ste. Marie, have insisted that once a man is a priest, he is always a priest, despite even criminal convictions.Bouclin argues the church's position is "once you're baptized, you're baptized forever. Once a Catholic, always a Catholic."Her hope, as a Roman Catholic woman, is that whoever is elected will listen rather than pontificate. Listen to the real needs of the people, listen to all the theologians that have been silenced, listen to the experience of the poor, especially poor women."carol.mulligan@sunmedia.ca Twitter: @Carol_Mulligan

Friday, March 1, 2013

On Thursday morning, I was a guest on the Diane Rehm Show, which airs on NPR stations across the nation. The topic was, of course, the departure of Pope Benedict XVI, the latest in scandal news swirling around the Vatican, and the coming conclave.One of the questions surfacing on the show and in many interviews (including the ones I do on Interfaith Voices) is this: What qualities are needed in the new pope? Many guests say we need someone who can "clean house" at the Vatican, aka get the Roman Curia into shape. Others talk about the need for a good communicator, and someone who can teach the gospel effectively in the 21st century. More and more, my answer is this: someone who is willing to renounce patriarchy. That means someone who could, and would, inaugurate a "Council of the People of God" for the church. This would not be a council of bishops like Vatican II. Yes, it would include bishops and priests, but it would be composed mainly of lay people -- women as well as men -- from all the cultures and continents of the world.Done right, think of what a glorious gathering that might be! And as I watch what's unfolding in Rome, I believe I am watching the final states of a dying patriarchy. The pompous costumes, the rituals, the all-male decision makers are straight out of the courts of Europe in the 17th or 18th centuries. And then I look at those who will vote in the conclave: no women, no married people, no one from a younger generation. This cannot last if the church is to have the least bit of relevance in the 21st century. Wasn't it Vatican II that said "the church is the People of God?"Bridget Mary's Response:Well said, Maureen, I agree completely. Roman Catholic Women Priests are reshaping a renewed priestly ministry that focuses on justice rising up in a community of equals. Yes, indeed, patriarchy is dying and a new church is being born in inclusive grassroots communities where all are welcome, young, old, women and men, gays and lesbians, divorced and remarried. We don't need more clericalism, but more Jesus and Less Pope, as Patricia Fresen said in her keynote at Call to Action last year. Bridget Mary Meehan, arcwp. www.arcwp.orgsofiabmm@aol.com

The U.S. is failing to pursue and prosecute clergy guilty of child sexual abuse, according to a recent United Nations committee report.

"The U.N.'s Committee on the Rights of the Child, in a little-noticed Jan. 25 report, urged the U.S. to "take all necessary measures to investigate all cases of sexual abuse of children whether single or on a massive and long-term scale, committed by clerics."The U.S. Department of Justice did not return requests for comment, and the National Association of Attorneys General declined to comment. Abuse cases are typically handled by local and state prosecutors, not the federal government.Child abuse scandals have rocked various Christian and Jewish institutions throughout the U.S. in recent years, with the Catholic Church's clergy abuse scandal that erupted in 2002 the most visible.Earlier this month, Archbishop Jose Gomez of Los Angeles stripped retired Cardinal Roger Mahony of his public duties after a court-ordered release of church documents showed that Mahony and others tried to shelter abusive priests from prosecution.David Clohessy, the director of Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, described national efforts to deal with child-molesting clergy as "woefully inadequate.""There has been and continues to be too cozy a relationship between religious and governmental figures," Clohessy said. "Other than a handful of local prosecutors, there's been almost no action at the state or federal level." Clohessy said his group believes that if prosecutors were to target church leaders rather than individual priests, the problem would be solved much faster."If even a handful of bishops went to jail for enabling child sex crimes, we believe that that would introduce massive reform," Clohessy said. "Predator priests would be caught after their third victim, not 33rd victim."Last year, Bishop Robert Finn of Kansas City, Mo., was convicted of failing to report an abusive priest, and a leading churchman in Philadelphia received three to six years in prison for shuffling known abusers across the archdiocese.,,"

Thursday, Mar 14 7:00p to 10:00p

Informative, beautifully filmed and edited, with a powerful soundtrack, this film will inspire women and men who have experienced discrimination and marginalization to stand up to power, no matter the odds, no matter the consequences, and follow their true call. Roman Catholic Women Priests are a spiritual revolution, a holy shakeup, in the Roman Catholic Church.

...."In this dramatic situation the church needs a pope who’s not living intellectually in the Middle Ages, who doesn’t champion any kind of medieval theology, liturgy or church constitution. It needs a pope who is open to the concerns of the Reformation, to modernity. A pope who stands up for the freedom of the church in the world not just by giving sermons but by fighting with words and deeds for freedom and human rights within the church, for theologians, for women, for all Catholics who want to speak the truth openly. A pope who no longer forces the bishops to toe a reactionary party line, who puts into practice an appropriate democracy in the church, one shaped on the model of primitive Christianity. A pope who doesn’t let himself be influenced by a Vatican-based “shadow pope” like Benedict and his loyal followers.

Where the new pope comes from should not play a crucial role. The College of Cardinals must simply elect the best man. Unfortunately, since the time of Pope John Paul II, a questionnaire has been used to make all bishops follow official Roman Catholic doctrine on controversial issues, a process sealed by a vow of unconditional obedience to the pope. That’s why there have so far been no public dissenters among the bishops.

Yet the Catholic hierarchy has been warned of the gap between itself and lay people on important reform questions. A recent poll in Germany shows 85 percent of Catholics in favor of letting priests marry, 79 percent in favor of letting divorced persons remarry in church and 75 percent in favor of ordaining women. Similar figures would most likely turn up in many other countries.

Might we get a cardinal or bishop who doesn’t simply want to continue in the same old rut? Someone who, first, knows how deep the church’s crisis goes and, second, knows paths that lead out of it?

These questions must be openly discussed before and during the conclave, without the cardinals being muzzled, as they were at the last conclave, in 2005, to keep them in line.

As the last active theologian to have participated in the Second Vatican Council (along with Benedict), I wonder whether there might not be, at the beginning of the conclave, as there was at the beginning of the council, a group of brave cardinals who could tackle the Roman Catholic hard-liners head-on and demand a candidate who is ready to venture in new directions. Might this be brought about by a new reforming council or, better yet, a representative assembly of bishops, priests and lay people?

If the next conclave were to elect a pope who goes down the same old road, the church will never experience a new spring, but fall into a new ice age and run the danger of shrinking into an increasingly irrelevant sect. "

Hans Küng is a professor emeritus of ecumenical theology at the University of Tübingen and the author of the forthcoming book “Can the Church Still Be Saved?” This essay was translated by Peter Heinegg from the German.

Cardinal tipped to become first black pope in modern times blames gay priests for abuse scandals facing Catholic church

Simon Caldwell Feb.22, 2013

The African cardinal widely tipped to be the first black pope in modern history faced a firestorm of criticism last night after he laid the blame for clerical sex abuse crises at the feet of gay priests.

Cardinal Peter Turkson, who comes from Ghana, told an American journalist that similar sex scandals would never convulse churches in Africa because the culture was inimical to homosexuality.

'African traditional systems kind of protect or have protected its population against this tendency,' he told Christiane Amanpour of CCN.

Benedict XVI Era Ends - Can Catholic Church Embrace Change?

http://ncronline.org/news/vatican/vatican-stuck-monarchical-pastAs long as women are missing from the official governance of the institutional church, Catholicism will not be able to heal from its centuries old sexism. The Catholic Church should follow Jesus' example of Gospel equality. It is time for a holy shakeup. Roman Catholic Women Priests are leading the way toward an inclusive, vibrant renewal in our church. It is not what the church can do for women, but what women can do for the church that is the issue! Bridget Mary Meehan, ARCWP, www.arcwp.org, 941-955-2313, 703-505-0004, sofiabmm@aol.com

Wednesday, February 27, 2013

A transcript of the segment, which aired on CNN Newsroom on February 27 at 9:04 a.m. EST, is as follows:

CAROL COSTELLO: As you watch the celebrations in Rome, what goes through your mind?

DONNA QUINN, coordinator, National Coalition of American Nuns: Well, I'd like to thank the Pope for his work and wish him well. I'd like to also pick up on something he just said, "for the good of the church." We women are calling this papal election invalid. It has to be declared fraudulent because it has no women included in the process. By that I mean there are no women on the ballot in the conclave, there are no women voters, there are no women in the whole process, and women make up half of the Church's Membership.

We know that's not for the good of the church. And when Pope Benedict was first elected, we were tired, as women, of the gray smoke and then the white smoke, so what we had outside of all the cathedrals across the United States, we had pink smoke rising up. Now this time around, we are saying there can be no pink smoke. It has dissipated. What we are calling for is to have women included in the whole process. You know, young women today, they don't respect the church. They don't go to church. They are bright, articulate, intelligent women. They know they are made in the image and likeness of God, and they hold CEO positions, elected office positions, but they are saying no to gender abuse.

CAROL COSTELLO: Sister, let me interrupt you.

QUINN: – and sexual abuse.

COSTELLO: Let me just interrupt you for a second. You have a very liberal view there and I'm sure many nuns feel the way do, you but not all of them. I want to bring in our Vatican analyst John Allen. John, I don't know if you heard what the sister said but she's upset because there are no women involved in this process, in the selection of a new pope. That's not likely to change, is it?

ALLEN: No, I mean I think the central fact to understand about this conclave is that all 115 cardinals who will be voting were appointed either by John Paul II or Benedict XVI and therefore on the big picture issues they are all of one mind. So I think it's quite unlikely that the next Pope is going to ordain women or repeal church teaching on abortion or gay marriage or those kinds of issues. Now on the other hand, I would certainly say from my own experience of talking to cardinals the more thoughtful among them realize that the church has a woman's problem. They understand that there are a lot of sisters who feel the same way as our guest does and it's not just nuns, of course. Lots of women generally feel that way. So I do think the next pope is going to face this very difficult challenge of trying to reach out to women and assuring them there's a place for them in the church, while at the same time drawing a line in the sand on the ordination question.

COSTELLO: When you say that they're going to select the new pope and they're going to think outside the box and they're maybe going to South America or Africa to choose the next pope, they're really not thinking outside the box though, are they? Maybe they are in picking a pope from another country but as far as –

ALLEN: – you mean the hot-button issues that we talk about, that is the culture wars, they're not going to think outside that box. Papal transitions are more about changes in tone and style than they are substance. But on the other hand, we've seen in recent experience that things do change. John Paul II was a very different man than the pope he followed, Paul VI. Just as Benedict XVI was quite different from John Paul II in many ways. So if by "box" we mean things bigger than issues, if we mean tonality and approach and personality, those kinds of things, then yeah, I think it's reasonable to think there might some changes on those scores.

If you are ready to join the growing chorus of Catholics who are saying "not in our name", if youwant to experience a renewed, vibrant church in grassroots communities, then visit our inclusive faith communities where women priests, married priests invite all to Christ's table of abundant love.Bridget Mary Meehan, arcwpwww.arcwp.orgsofiabmm@aol.com941-955-2313703-505-0004In Sarasota, Fl. Mary Mother of Jesus Inclusive Catholic Community meets on Saturdays at 4 PM for Catholic Mass at St. Andrew UCC. All are welcome. 6908 Beneva Rd. Sarasota, Fl.

"The Catholic church is on its knees, and not in the way it would
like. In fact, the last thing anyone would ask a bishop or cardinal
about right now is prayer, or Christian witness, or how to live an
upright, moral, God-trusting life. Why would you, when all they seem
to know about is covering up sex crimes, inappropriate behaviour among
prelates, political infighting at the Vatican, and the existence of a
clandestine gay cabal at the highest levels in Rome?
"All of which is, for ordinary church-going lay Catholics like me,
profoundly disturbing. How could an organisation that professes a
direct link to Christ – "You are Peter," Jesus told the first bishop
of Rome, "and on this rock I will build my church …" – have gone so
far off the rails that it now seems a power-crazed, untrustworthy and
corrupt institution, out to save its own skin at almost any cost?
"The people in the pews are reeling from shock: go to any mass at any
church in Britain this weekend, and there will only be one topic of
conversation in the porch afterwards. How did it come to this? What on
earth has been going on in our church?"
Read the full article at
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/feb/26/crimes-catholic-church-not-our-names

Bridget Mary's Response

It is time for a holy shakeup including women priests and married priests as

one of the first steps forward to reform a corrupt institution and to renew our

beloved church as an empowered community of faith following Jesus in the Gospels.

Tuesday, February 26, 2013

"The current meltdown at the Vatican reveals what so many Catholics shamefully preferred to overlook for years. It is truly a “Wizard of Oz moment”, as the international media has pulled back the papal curtain for all to see. The Pope is trying to keep secret a 300 page report evidentally of massive criminal conduct affecting innocent children, among others, and documenting financial corruption. Papal Rome has just burned down and the Pope fiddles over his new title. Meanwhile, the Pope’s press officer has now even suggested that the papal elections are so secret that reporters face excommunication if they report any leaks they receive from Cardinals about voting results. The Middle Ages are over! The papal “witch” is dead. Time to end the mystical nonsense and to protect and respect children, women, AIDS victims, gay persons and the many other groups that have suffered much, needlessly, as a result of a self-serving Vatican clique’s lust for power and wealth, with a little sex on the side. We have heard more than enough already. The papal geo-political strategy following World War I of trading “papal blessings” for papal influence and subsidies received a mortal wound with President Barack Obama’s strong re-election victory over the Pope’s flawed anti-contraceptive and anti-gay marriage strategy. The Pope’s strategy has now breathed its last with the recent election trouncing of the Pope’s preferred candidate, Italy’s Prime Minister Monti, by an ex-Clown Prince! It really is a good time for the Pope to leave the Vatican, and hopefully he will not return. He can pray and meditate better at Castel Gandolfo, and still claim sovereign immunity there as well under the Lateran Treaty.Now secular leaders must act immediately to apply the rule of law to the Pope and the Cardinals. Enough with the winks and nods and special dispensations seeking political support. The International Criminal Court prosecutor must stop procrastinating and national leaders, like President Obama and Germany’s Chancellor Angela Merkel, must step-up and follow the admirable lead of Australia’s Prime Minister, Julia Gillard, and Ireland’s Prime Minister, Enda Kenny. Subpoena the secret report and the Pope’s butler and put an end to the incessant rape of children by priests!The escalating cracks in the Vatican’s walls are expanding almost at a geometric pace–truly breathtaking. One Cardinal is down, several are on the edge, and a desparate Pope cannot change the Conclave rules fast enough to try to stem the bleeding as he packs to leave town. This surely is the worst crisis since the Reformation, at least for the Vatican hierarchy. To many of the remaining one billion plus Catholics, it is mainly Good News. The “First” will soon be returned to the “Last”, children will be safer, women will be more respected, family planning will be available to save more children from misery, Catholic scholars will again be able to think freely and aloud, and gay persons will be freed of oppression from too many conflicted and closeted gay hierarchs. Divinely, the Gospels wisely show us Jesus and his early followers rejected evil empires and hypocritical hierarchs; while valuing authenticity and children. Welcome back, Gospels. We missed you when you were gone! The Pope is treating Cardinals as obedient fools, not as successors to the Apostles. He springs on them suddenly his resignation, then tells them they cannot read the very relevant secret report about Vatican scandals that likely lead to his resignation. He wants to cut down the Cardinal’s pre-voting candidate review period, while the Vatican Cardinal clique has likely had plenty of time to scheme for their candidate. Will Cardinals play dead now or bark back at the departing German Shepherd? Or will the Cardinals just let the prosecutors and courts take control and implement reforms? Cardinal Dolan already objected to shortening the pre-Conclave candidate review period. Will other voting Cardinals now join him and demand more time? By assembling a one-third voting block, they of course can take all the time in the world! Will they also demand to see the full secret report on the Vatican scandals, or will they just have to eliminate as a potential candidate any Cardinal who resides in Italy or who is being promoted by a Cardinal resident in Italy? Without a scorecard, how can you vote intelligently? On snippets of a secret report from octogenerian Cardinals who learned their early lessons ministering under Mussolini, Hitler, Stalin and/or Franco? The last two Popes showed us only too well the tricks learned by clerics with early experiences under Fascists. Increasing numbers of Cardinals seem to be facing serious criminal prosecution risks that likely could increase rapidly unless the Vatican is reformed promptly and broadly. Last year, Philly’s Cardinal Bevilacqua avoided almost imminent prosecution by dying first and his top aide is in prison. Prosecutors and jurors will likely no longer give Cardinals the benefit of the doubt and the media is aggressively reporting Cardinals’ sins more often. The next Pope must confront these risks honestly and openly or the risk of imprisonment will almost surely only increase for Cardinals worldwide. The next Pope must require that abuse survivors are treated justly and that children are protected effectively. He must assure that hierarchical wrongdoers are exposed, removed and punished transparently and promptly. He must end the financial scandals; not just ship a key financial player to South America. These pressing imperatives require new leadership and real reforms now, especially to minimize prosecution risks. Less than four months ago, the Pope tried unsuccessfully to take down the world’s most powerful leader, Barack Obama, in his re-election bid. Now the Pope flees the Vatican a broken man. The earlier shrewd effort of Pope Pius XII, as papal diplomat and then Pope, to maintain the charade of a Vatican nation-state as a purported world power for the tiny remnant of a former petty Italian papal kingdom, the Papal States, is finally over. Pope John Paul II was able temporarily to prop up and renew this papal geo-political overreach because Ronald Reagan thought he needed the Polish Pope to bring down the Soviets, but that brief political alliance ended with a thud with President Obama’s re-election. The Vatican must now focus on spiritual matters and forget politics and anti-contraceptive and anti-gay marriage crusades. Papal political clout is now clearly just an historical anomaly.Very recently, Catholic theologian, Hans Kung, Dominican priest, Matthew Fox, and Oxford historian, Sir Diarmaid MacCulloch, have weighed in on the current crisis. Their brief assessments must be listened to, or some Cardinals will likely be prosecuted sooner rather than later.Fr. Kung just spoke of his former university colleague, Joseph Ratzinger, this week as reported here at: http://www.spiegel.de/international/zeitgeist/theologian-hans-kueng-discusses-the-future-of-the-catholic-church-a-884080.htmlThe seemingly unending and substantially unaddressed Vatican scandals of child abuse cover-ups, sexual blackmail, financial corruption and managerial incompetence have reached a tipping point that made resignation the only option apparently. Shortly, perhaps this week, voting Cardinals reportedly may be told secretly some of what is in the confidential report of the three octogenerian non-voting Cardinals. The Pope has now just indicated the voting Cardinals will not see the actual report dossier before they vote. How convenient! Are voting Cardinals that subservient? How can they sensibly vote when they are denied access to critical relevant information readily available that the Pope is withholding from them, even as he now cuts down the pre-election review period and prepares apparently to continue ruling with Georgeous Georg from his nearby convent?? Are the voting Cardinals really successors of the Apostles or only the German Shepherd’s obedient puppies? Will voting Cardinals have to leave the Conclave in disguise, like Pius IX left Rome, to avoid the inevitable outbursts of shameful scorn from worldwide Catholics? The next Pope will surely be bogged down for years in ongoing worldwide governmental investigations, civil litigation and criminal prosecutions of the Church’s hierarchy that are now beginning to mushroom. These papal challenges are already burdened by the overall dark, but as of yet insufficiently rejected, legacy left by ex-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger and his Polish predecessor, so concisely summarized by Dominican priest, Matthew Fox, a student of key theologian, M.-D. Chenu, who theologically guided Joseph Ratzinger and Karol Wotyla at Vatican II, accessible here:http://www.huffingtonpost.com/matthew-fox/the-dark-legacy-of-pope-benedict-xvi_b_2720313.htmlMeanwhile,well informed Oxford historian, Sir Diarmaid MacCulloch, has characteristically just put the Pope’s resignation and the Vatican’s current dysfunctional structure into an insightful, revealing and constructive historical perspective, in only a few words, accessible here: http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/opinion/2013/0223/1224330417995.htmlHere’s what well-advised Cardinals who want to survive can and should do, in my view as an experienced international lawyer and lifelong Catholic. First, they must read my overall proposal to Pope Benedict XVI in my Washington Post column in 2010, accessible here:http://newsweek.washingtonpost.com/onfaith/guestvoices/2010/04/pope_should_endorse_independent_investigation.htmlCardinals then need to join together and block by a one-third vote any papal candidate, otherwise acceptable, that will not agree publicly BEFORE installation to take the following three actions:(1) Serve only a three year term subject to re-election thereafter. Pope Benedict just proved by resigning that the papacy is not a lifelong position.(2) Appoint now a special commission to identify and recommend within nine months needed structural and pastoral changes, with specific changes preliminarily listed now for the commission’s consideration. (3) Implement the needed changes so identified at a worldwide council held away from Rome within six months of receipt of the special committee’s recommendations as described in my Washington Post article.Alternatively, Cardinals can just consider giving the Vatican clique their blank papal proxies, then hire expensive criminal lawyers and pray for a miracle. How do they really think God will respond? Predictably, the “secret dossier” reportedly will not be publicly disclosed to the worldwide Catholic faithful whose contributions funded the report and the Cardinals’ opulent lifestyles. Catholics will once again have to wait until some of the slime is selectively leaked by some conniving Cardinal. Why doesn’t Benedict not just release the full report now to everyone and give the new Pope a fighting chance to regain some of the diminishing trust of a majority of Catholics that Benedict lost so completely? It will be on the Internet eventually anyway! How will the next Pope have legitimacy if the report contains negative information that might have prevented his obtaining the two-thirds vote needed to be elected in the first place. Once again, Vatican incompetence reigns."

Monday, February 25, 2013

http://ncronline.org/blogs/ncr-today/women-priests-popes-resignation-holy-shakeupThe resignation of Pope Benedict XVI is a "holy shakeup" in the Catholic church, states one of the associations for women who wish to be ordained as Catholic priests."The Pope’s resignation is a positive sign that the Spirit is at work renewing the church," states the Association of Roman Catholic Women Priests in a statement."We need a top down shakeup and new structures of accountability in the Roman Catholic Church," states the association, which ordains women outside the formal structures of the church. "Married priests, women priests, are only a few of the necessary steps the Vatican needs to take in a more just and compassionate church that honors the gifts of God in the people of God."www.arcwp.orgContact: Bridget Mary Meehan 703-505-0004Janice Sevre-Duszynska 859-684-4247

http://ncronline.org/blogs/all-things-catholic/quick-course-conclave-101Bridget Mary's Response:I hope this conclave is not like rearranging the chairs on the Titanic! It is time for real reform and this means women priests, married priests and major reforms of the structures of the church that incorporates Catholics in the pews in leadership roles in the church on all levels. Want to clean up the sex abuse crisis, this is the way forward, not more of the same old, secretive boys' network! It is time for something new. It is time to follow Jesus' example of Gospel equality!Bridget Mary Meehan, arcwpwww.arcwp.orgsofiabmm@aol.com